mask of fire
by falling winter roses
Summary: Echo Kalliope-eighth member of the Argo II. Nobody had ever seen through the mask that had kept her safe so many years-but Leo Valdez is on a mission to find out what is behind the sorrow in the demigod's eyes :: five drabbles about a girl who is slowly dying inside :: WARNING: Includes self-harm, suicide, depression. Leo/OC, sorry Caleo fans. I love it too.
1. hurt

**A/N: So guys, new fic! This one is going to be drabble formatting-I know, you're probably getting bored with this, but come on. I have no patience for long regular stuff. Might have some parts not in drabble format, but hey, I dunno.**

 **Just a warning. This fic is going to contain some possible triggers. Suicide/Self-harm/Depression, you have been warned!**

* * *

He was probably the only one who noticed.

The eighth member of the Argo II was a jokester girl, full of laughter and sarcastic remarks.

But Leo saw through the facade.

Leo saw through the mask.

Leo saw the hurt in the girl.

He saw himself in Echo Kalliope, the eighth member of the Argo II.

* * *

She had never really known anyone to see through her mask.

But she had a sneaking suspicion that Leo Valdez, son of Hephaestus, knew her secrets.

For he himself was like her in many ways.

But she hoped beyond hope he did not know the darker ones.

The ones involving the scars that had not been made by a monster.

The ones that had been made by the very knife that hung by her own side every day.


	2. lines

She does not wear the long sleeved shirts to hide them.

She is afraid it will be to obvious if she does this is this hot Mediterranean summer.

The scars simply blend in with the others.

The others, made by monsters and those horrors from her past.

None of the other campers had ever said a word.

But he noticed.

He noticed, and that night she went to bed with a chill.

* * *

"What's that?" he asks, pointing at the bold red lines criss-crossing her arms.

They are sitting on the deck, Echo and Leo on watch.

She glances at the wounds.

"Oh, nothing. Harpy attack from last night."

He does not believe her, but he fears to say anything.

"Must've been some vicious harpies."

"Yeah. You'd think they'd be all soft, playing a harp."

Leo snorts.

"Sorry. Terrible puns is my thing."

"Nah, fine. Cheesy and corny are my favorite qualities."

"So you like Cheetos?"

"How could you know?"

"Oh, shush."

It bothers him later how her dark, fractured eyes didn't seem to meet his when she spoke.


	3. seas

She stands at the railing, her stomach pressed against the cold metal, the only thing keeping her from the icy depths of the Mediterranean.

The Mare Nostrum.

She climbs over and stands on the other side.

She thinks about what is left to live for.

She is making a choice.

She deserves to die, she knows that.

Or at least she thinks she does.

She thinks about all she's done and she knows that she should jump.

But she is a coward.

And she knows that she must go on with the quest.

And so she begins to climb back over the rail.  
Winds catches her and blows away her grip.

She yelps, but does not call for help in the howling winds.

She does not want anybody to find out her secret.

She will not let anyone find out.

And so she musters all her strength and collapses on the deck.

Seemingly happy, they found her.

* * *

Leo is crying, the memories becoming too much.

The flashes of his now dead mother's beaming face.

 _The mother he killed._

He wants more than anything right now to die, die because he should be dead.

"Are you okay?"

He startles at the concerned voice of Echo.

"Yeah."

"You're crying."

"Thanks for noticing, Sherlock."

"What's wrong?"

Somehow Leo found himself trusting this girl, and he poured out all his secrets to her.

As she comforted him, Leo Valdez realized he was falling in love.


	4. words

The quest goes on, and then, then at Rome, Annabeth and Percy fall into the pit.

She blames herself.

They are at mess hall, arguing about the future, she lost in her thoughts when the flashback starts to tug at the corners of her vision.

She stands abruptly.

"Bathroom," she says dismissively to the questioning looks.

She almost runs into her cabin and locks the door shut tight.

Then the vision comes, and she can do no more to stop it.

* * *

She emerges from the flashback and collapses on the wooden floor of her cabin, sobbing.

She remembers that day as clear as if it were yesterday.

She remembers it all too well.

The day she failed.

Failed her.

Failed the one who had never failed her.

Failed her best friend.

Failed her sister.

It was all her fault.

The screams still echo in her head.

She unsheathes her knife and stares at herself in the glinting blade.

She's a failure, she thinks.

 _Failure._

She carves it into her left arm.

 _Worthless._

She writes it on her right arm.

 _Murderer._

She digs it down, down, into her left leg.

 _Hopeless._

Blood drips down her right leg as she writes with the silver paintbrush.

 _Unloved._

She stares, entranced, and the bloody word on her chest.

 _Weak._

Red paint on her forehead.

That's how Leo Valdez finds her, and he screams for help.

But she is already dead.


	5. forgiven

**A/N: Last one!** **By the way, I resubmitted Part Three. It's different now, go read it.**

* * *

The daughter of Hecate enters the Underworld.

She wishes that somehow, someway, she could go into darkness.

But it is impossible.

She is not even allowed to go to Asphodel, where her terrible memories will finally be erased.

She goes to Elysium.

She does not think she deserves it, but the judges are adamant.

She wants to switch with her, the best friend she had _killed_ by her actions, but no.

Her friend was in Elysium.

No way could they switch.

So the broken girl recovers with the forgiving smile of her friend in the white light of the ghosts' paradise.

* * *

The son of Hephaestus enters the Underworld two months later, granted Elysium.

He is not expecting the way his dead love, the girl that he failed to save looks now.

She is happy.

And now so is he.

So she healed.

They mended each other.

* * *

 **A/N: AND DONE!**


End file.
